Menelaus was the Jewish high priest who collaborated with the Seleucids and helped defile the Temple.
Menelaus secured the high-priesthood around 172 BCE by offering Antiochus IV Epiphanes a larger payment than Jason, his predecessor. His appointment deepened the conflict between traditional Jewish practices and the Hellenizing policies favored by parts of the Jerusalem elite and the Seleucid administration.
According to 2 Maccabees, Menelaus plundered sacred Temple vessels to meet financial obligations and was involved in the political repression surrounding the sanctuary. The account also portrays him as helping Antiochus impose Hellenizing measures and as contributing to the Temple’s desecration, including the pollution of its altar.
Jason was also a Hellenizing high priest and an important rival, so the names can be confused. Onias III was Menelaus’s predecessor and an opponent whom Menelaus’s faction targeted. Menelaus remained nominally high priest during the Maccabean revolt and was eventually executed under Antiochus V.